The ‘Cycle’ Of Sales History

BEDFORDSHIRE, U.K. - July 15, 2013 - PRLog -- The Tour De France is 110 years old this month, if we look back over the history of the iconic cycling events we can see the strong tie it has to the sales industry, originally organised by Henri Desgrange as a publicity ploy to boost his other business interest in newspaper sales.

In 1903, the “L’Auto” French newspaper publication, ran by Henri, was locked in a competitive sales war with the sports paper “Le Velo” and desperately needed to market it in a way to gain readership and boost sales or risk the future of the printed press name.

Forward-thinking journalist for “L’Auto” Geo Lefevre, came up with the innovative idea to save the paper, combining his passion and hobby he put forward the concept what we know today as the Tour de France’ event.

As a result of this six-day Race “L’Auto” saw sales soar and helped to change the way people market and sell their brands today.  At its heart, the Tour De France remains a vehicle to sell and promote all different items inc. tires, shoes, bikes, telephones and countless other items that the sponsors of the teams and the race want to promote.

The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management (ISMM) are the authoritative voice of selling and the custodian of sales standards, ethics, skills development and good practice. ISMM regard this prestigious sporting events history as a great reminder of how forward thinking and new ideas can help businesses maximise the sales and target new clients.

Sales started when currency entered the world in 200BC by the roman empire which led to humans beginning to sell items in exchange for currency and the first retail shopping was introduce when the doors of the royal exchange shopping gallery was first opened in 1568.

The first breakthrough of sales professionals came in around 1850 when traveling salesmen started marketing their product around America and since then, new sales ideas & marketing have taken a range of forms and ideas to maximise their targets.

Director of Sales at ISMM Ben Turner says “Selling is at the forefront of any business, being the only activity that creates revenue, when everything else creates cost. Every sales professional can learn a lot from the methods of Geo Lefevre and his editor Henri Desgrange.  Business should not only come up with new ways to market and sell their products but also maintain sales standards and listen and learn from fellow professionals just like they did.”

The ISMM is an advocate for the UK sales industry, offering a wide range of support for both sales professionals individually and focused organisations. Businesses can take advantage of networking and seminars to maximise sales, tips, ideas and keep at the top of trends and techniques.”

Any business and sales professional should always look at the basic roots of sales and marketing to achieve a basic ground to work from and anyone wishing to find more about what ISMM can offer to sales professional and businesses can visit them at www.ismm.co.uk